Saturday nite… time to head down to the nearest centre of civilization and to one of my favourite small venues, LePub in Newport. Newport nowadays, I’m sorry to say, as someone who grew up within the TJ’s generation (hopefully the documentary planned of this amazing time will get funded - it’ll be great to spot who’s who at which gigs and we’ll really find out who was where) has taken about ten steps backwards, which is why it’s so important to support small music venues such as LePub, and stay well away from the cover band shit permeating the whole area… I mean, come on: how can you call yourself a musician when you don't play a note that you actually put on paper yourself?

I mean for a fiver (and a bit) look at the line up put together for this little soiree!

Photo courtesy of Johnny Hayward

First up Stay Voiceless, a band that we’ve championed here on Über Rock but who caught my individual eye back last year in the Dolls House on a bill that included a personal fave, The Empty Page, and they fair piqued my attention: you know when you listen to a band and you pull influences or link them to particular genres? There’s very definitely an indie slant, but even more obvious is the punk rock heart beating underneath; this three piece has a real edge and attitude that you can’t miss. Chris Morgan is a cracking front man and you can tell for the developing tightness in the rhythm section, Cerys (drums) and Andrew (Bass) that they’ve been gigging constantly over the last couple of years, they just seem to have tightened up so much since the last time I caught them. It can’t be long before the next level comes knocking.

Next up we get a chance to catch one of the off-shoots from the Sick Livers implosion - an event that devastated the South Wales punk rock scene; so raise a glass: there is an afterlife, for Veej and Matty at least… They’ve roped in Fraser, who I’ve not seen on stage in a fair few years: dredging the memory banks, I caught him in an outfit called Flyscreen, but he also put in an appearance with the Choketeens… both worth checking out if you can find them.

Photo courtesy of Johnny Hayward

I think the lure of glunk rock heaven was a bit much to refuse, so welcome Deathtraps. These guys are unashamedly garage punk, owing allegiance to the Turbonegro/Chuck Norris Experiment/Hip Priests style of debauched carnage. This was only their third gig together, and they are already a band that are starting to make moves in the underground, with Veej finding his feet as a front man. As they enter into the gig circuit you can see them developing into a hell of a live proposition… you could even find a bit of a homage to the legendary Girlschool. You have to catch these guys live to see what I mean! Chatting to Fraser prior, they’re due in the studio in two weeks, so we can expect a collection of songs to tantalize the mind very soon - July hopefully I’m told - including the Girlschool homage. Catch them now be at the front of something!

As you stand there waiting for Exit_International, you just know that anyone who hasn’t seen them prior is going to get absolutely blown away. They stunned me in a headline slot at one of the Slugfest soirees: to my jaded ears they were a breath of fresh air, defiantly Intense, totally in your face and what a band of fucking musicians (Exit International cover band potential? NIL!) Tonight? They were even better!

As you get the intro singalong “I’ve got a dick like an elephants trunk” you begin to smile - and then ‘Glory Horn’ just floors you, and for the next 60 minutes its every man for himself as the venue explodes. Tracks like ‘Sex With Strangers’, ‘Fuck Yeah! Depression’ and ‘Chainsaw Song’ are still bouncing around my brain three days later as I write this up…

What can you liken them too? Absolutely nothing: they stand on their own… call them industrial noise, art rock, noise, indie - nothing really fits or will prepare you for possibly the best live act on the circuit, as long as they remain on it.

So a night of three three-piece bands each one markedly different, each showing a different facet of this music we call rock - and not a cover band in sight… WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?